Animal skin nailer



Feb. 28, 1939. R, s. ROY

ANIMAL SKN NAILER 2 Sheets-SheeL FViled June 18, 1936 NVENTOR. //f/z' 2 $05/ ATTORNEYS.

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Feb. v28, 1939. R s, ROY 2,149,124

ANIMAL SKIN NAILER Filed Junel 18, 1936 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 A TTORNEYS.

Patented Feb. 28, 1939 PATENT OFFICE ANIMAL SKIN NAILER Remi S. Roy, Providence, R. I., assignor of onehalf to William L. Kelman, Cranston, R. I.

Application June 18, 1936, Serial No. 85,896

10 Claims.

This invention relates to a nailing device for use in stretching and shaping animal skins, or leather, or various other materials; and has for one of its objects the provision of means which may be carried by a pair of pliers for facilitating the positioning of a nail thru the work while the same is being manually stretched.

Another object of the invention is the provision of a. device which will enable the operator to nail the work in place without loss of any of the stretch to which the work has beenextended by reason of the usual slip which occurs at the time of nailing.

Another object of the invention is the provision of a device which will insert a nail having a single shank thru the stretched work and into the board over which it is stretched to a limited extent by the use of but one hand to perform the nailing operation.

Another object of the invention is the provision ofa magazine of nails which will be supplied continually as the foremost nail is extruded from the device by the nailing operation.

Another object of the invention is the insertion of a notched nail only part way along its shank so that the same may be easily extracted by hand.

Another object of the invention is to enable the stretching operation of the work to be more quickly and easily performed than has heretofore been found possible by the devices which are in use and without damage to the fingers.

Another object of the invention-is to provide a' plurality of magazine sections with an arrangement for feeding the nails from a selected section as may be desired and do away with the unsanitary and dangerous method of a workman holding the nails in his mouth.

With these and other objects in view, the invention consists of certain novel featuresof construction,.as will be more fully described, and particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

In the accompanying drawings:

Fig. 1 is a side view partly in section of the nailing device as mounted upon a pair of skinpulling pliers.

Fig. 2 is a central sectional view showing a fragmental portion of the pliers as engaging a skin.

Fig. 3 is a top plan view of a fragmental portion of the device with the handle omitted.

Fig. 4 is a sectional view on line 4--14 of Fig. 2 with the handle omitted.

Fig. 5 is a sectional view on the line 5-5 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 6 is an enlarged iragmental section of a portion of Fig. 5 with the parts in a dierent position.

Fig. 'I to Fig. 13 are perspective views of various parts of the nailer in generally the relation which these parts bear to one another.

5 Animal skins, particularly fur skins, altho leather for other purposes, are stretched for shaping the same as desired. This stretching operation is usually accomplished by a pair of pliers which are used to grip and pull the skin, that is one edge of the skin is nailed to a board or table top, and then the opposite edge is gripped and pulled against the nails which hold 4the nailed-down edge, in order to shape the skin to some pattern or to stretch the same as desired; and yin order that the skin may take the shape to which it is to be stretched, the workman pulls with one hand on the pliers and then with the other hand endeavors to insert a nail, which is usually done by taking the nail from his mouth, pressing his thumb on the head of the nail so as to force it thru the skin and into the board and after the nail is thus started, the workmanlets go with the pliers and hits the nail with the pliers as quickly as he can. Usually, if the skin is stretched to any extent, there is a creeping back between the time that the workman lets go of the pliers and the time he strikes the nail with them.

Attempts have been made to provide a stapling machine carried by the pliers for the insertion' of a staple but this has been found to be unsatisfactoryin use inasmuch as the staple is inserted its fullest extent so that it is diiiicult to be extracted; then again a staple which makes two holes in the skin is undesirable from another standpoint.

In order to avoid this slow and painstaking method of stretching and nailing skins, or the diiiiculties encountered by the stapling. machine method, I have provided a. device which may be carried by one of the plier members so that the usual nail, except that it has no head, may be inserted for a portion of the length of its shank only, whereby the nail may be easily and quickly .extracted when desired; and I have provided these nails in such form whereby a large number can be handled as a single unit with the plunger so arranged that a single nail is picked oif and forced thru the skin by merely pressing or striking the handle portion of the plunger, which can be done with the free hand while the other hand holds the pliers and the skin in stretched position, and bythis arrangement there need be no creeping back of the skin after the -same has been stretched to its fullest extent, which is 2. In the inactive position 49, these fingers are desired before nailing. Furthermore, an operator may much more quickly insert the nail than heretofore and speed up the operation of stretching the skin in a very desirable manner; and the following is a more detailed description of the present embodiment of this invention illustrating the preferred means by which these advantageous results may be accomplished:-

With reference'to the drawings, I5 designates lgenerally a pair of pliers having parallel jaws I6 and I1 with replaceableinsert portions for gripping a skin, or other desired material I8 by moving thehandle portions I9 and 20 toward each other and then pulling on the pliers, which action is assisted by the shape of the pliers in the form of a hook 2l. These handle portions are moved apart by a compression spring 22. The pivotal arrangement between the handles and the jaws is such as to cause these jaws to move toward and from each other, always in parallel relation, which arrangement is known and will not be described in detail here.

I provide an attachment for such pulling pliers for nailing the work in place, after it has been stretched to the desired point. This attachment as a whole is designated 25 and is provided with a pair of screw holes 26 for the reception of screws 21'which extend thru one of the jaws of the pliers to hold the attachment in such position that it can be actuated by a handle 28 to force the nails 29 notched as at 91 for easy withdrawal thru the work, such as an animal skin I8, and into the wooden table 30 to hold the work in stretched position.

The nailing attachment consists of a body part designated generally 3| and shown more particularly in perspective view in Fig. 10. This body comprises largely a solid block having the nail magazine formed of three grooves 32, 33 and 34 extending in parallel relation lengthwise of this block for the reception of strips of nails 29 which are formed as a unit 30, all held together by some suitable cement or by a thin web of material. The tops of these slots terminate at points below the top of the marginal side edge portions of the block, which portions are undercut as at 36 for the reception of a cover 31 which may slide in these grooves 36 to and from closing position and when in the latter position prevents the nails from being lifted from their positions in the grooves. This cover, however, is itself slotted in parallel slots 38 which register with the grooves 32, 33 and 34, but these slots 38 are much narrower and are of a size smaller than the nails to prevent the nails from being withdrawn therethru. A handle 39 at the end of the cover serves to provide for easy manual manipulation of the cover to and from its closing position.

The opposite outer side walls of the body 3I are provided with T-shaped grooves 40 which receive the T-shaped projection 4I of the Vcarriage designated generally 42, see Fig. 7, for slidably mounting the carriage on the body. Tension springs 43 are attached to hooks 44 on this carriage and to the hooks 45 on an extension 46 projecting forwardly of the end of the body for sliding the carriage forwardly longitudinally of the body. These springs are on either side of the body lin balanced relation and serve to evenly draw the carriage forwardly. Fingers 41 of the shape shown in Fig. 8, are pivoted in each of the slots 48 in the carriage and may assume the inactive position shown at 49 in Figs. 1 and 2, or the active operating position shown at 5U in Fig.

thrown backwardly about the pivot 52 to rest upon the rear portion of the carriage. .In the active position of these figures, they are swung forwardly about the pivot 52 to drop thru the slotl 38 in the cover 31 and into a position back of the nails 30 in the selected slot 32, 33 or 34 so as to feed one of these sections forwardly by means of the spring acting on the carriage. Thus it may be seen that by swinging the desired finger 41 into operative position, the sections of the magazine to be fedl forwardly may be selected, while the other fingers will be swung into inoperative position, as shown at 49, unless, of course, the magazine section which they would feed is empty, in which case it would be immaterial and unnecessary to lift these from the magazine slot in the functioning of the device. Threaded members 55 on the carriage may be manually screwed in to grip the side walls of the body and prevent the carriage from feeding forwardly at such times 'as the nails are being loaded into the grooves.

These members 55 will also serve by reason of their concaved faces, as good gripping points for `the thumb and finger for grasping the carriage to move it rearwardly.

Extending upwardly along the outer, side surface of the body are projecting portions 56 which are conveniently formed integral with a bottom plate 51, altho this in some instances may be an integral part of the block which has been previously described. These portions 56 serve to mount means for preventing the outer rows of nails in the slots, such as 32 and 34, from feeding forwardly. This brake is accomplished by means of a sleeve 58 threaded into a bore 59 in the projection 56.` In this sleeve 58 a pin 60 is slidably mounted and is forced inwardly by means of a spring 6I. acting between the sleeve 58 and a collar 62 fixed on the pin. This pin projects thru a bore 63 in the body block and bore 64 in the projection 56 into engagement with the strip of nails 35. A handle member 65 serves for retracting the pin and a cross bar 66 when located as shown in Fig. 6 holds this pin in retracted position against the action of the spring. If, however, the pin is turned so as to lodge it in the notch 61, the pin stem projects into engagement with the nails and serves to prevent the unit 30 from feeding forwardly by gravity should the pliers be tilted with their forward end lowermost. Thus it will be apparent that in the operation of the device, the nails in the middle groove 33 will first be fed forwardly while the nails in either of the outer grooves 32, 34 will be held by the brake means, just described. After the middle row has been fed forwardly and used, the brake on one row 32 or 34, will be released and that row fed forwardly by movement into the position of the finger 41, after which the third or last row will be similarly fed forwardly for the use of all nails held by the magazine and then the device will be reloaded.

At the forward end of the body, there is mounted a reciprocating member, designated generally 10, which is of generally U-shape, consisting of a guiding leg 1I slotted as at 12 and an operating nail-ejecting plunger or electing tool designated 13, and extending downwardly from the head portion 14 and held thereon by means of a plate |00 and screws IUI, as shown in Fig. 2. This plunger or tool 13 is grooved as at 15, 16, 11 for the reception of headless upper ends of the nails and is of a thickness at least not greater than one of the nails to be ejected. A spring guiding pin 18 extends downwardly between the leg`1l, plunger 13 and is threadingly mounted in the head portion 14 with a short'stub 19 extending above the generally rectangular in cross section. A pin f threadingiy engages an opening 95 in the plate 82 and extends thru the slot 12 and into the hole 86 where it is supported and forms a stop for limiting the stroke Vof the plunger by reason of the ends of the slot 12 engaging the pin.

A bore 81 extends downwardly from the top g of the member 80 and exists partly in this member and partly in the member 8|, as at 88, which bore serves to receive a spring.89 which is guided in its movement by the guide pin 18 which tends to lift the plunger to its uppermost position. 'Ihis block 8l flts in the recess 90 in the member 80, as may be readily seen from Figs. l1 and 12. A groove 9| is located in the member 80 and also in the member 8|, which groove is of a dimension substantially the thickness and dimension of the plunger 13 so as to slidably receive this plunger and guide it on three sides while its fourth side is in contact and guided by the endsurface 92 of the body, while a plate 99 closes the vupper portion of the slot 9|. The projection 93 of the portion llll ts into the notches 94 to' receive them. The notches 95 and 96 in the members 82 and 80 are for the 'reception of the springs 43 which engage the extension 46 protruding vforwardly from the front end of the machine.

It will be apparent that the nails in the selected section of the magazine may be fed forwardly by swinging the nger 41 into the selected groove, the end nail 29 will be forced into one of the grooves, as groove 16 of. the plunger when in raised position, the nails in the other grooves being held against such advancement by the brake. The plunger when descending will pick off this end nail, it being of a width no greater than the nail, and force the nail downwardly thru the work I8, the limit of insertion being governed by the slot 12, and then when theplunger again rises, the next pin will be moved into the groove for a repeat of the operation. The center section of the magazine will rst be fed and then each side section in turn fed forwardly in a similar manner. After the device is empty the carriage will be drawn back, the three fingers 41 swung to inoperative position anda fresh supply of nails in unit form 30 loaded into the magazine for repeated operation.

It will be understood that this device while primarily shown in connection with animal skin stretching pliers, may be used in connection with other various kinds of work. l n

. The foregoing description is directed solely towards the construction illustrated, but I desire it to be understood that I reserve the privilege of resorting to all the mechanical changes to which the device is susceptible, the invention being defined and limited only by the terms of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In an animal skin nailer, a body provided with a slot providing a nail magazine, said magazine adapted to receive headless nails below the A top of said slot, a cover over said slot having a corresponding slot of lesser dimension, a plunger member reciprocally mounted with reference to said body at the end of. said slot comprising actu- :ating means outside of said slot, and means extending thru said cover for engaging and feeding the nails in said slot forwardly.

2. In an-animal skin nailer, a body provided with aV slot providing a nail magazine, said magazine adapted to receive headless nails-below the top of said slot and a cover over said slot, a plunger member reciprocally mounted with reference to said body at the end of said slot, means to feed nails along said slot to said plunger, a carriage slidable along said body and a finger on said carriage extending thru said cover for feeding the nails in said slot forwardly.

3. In an animal skin nailer, a body provided with a slot providing a nail magazine, said niagazine adapted to receive headless nails below the top of said slot, a plunger member reciprocally mounted with reference to said body at the end of said slot, means to feed nails alng said slot to said p1unger, a carriage slidable ,along said body and a movable finger on said carriage extending thru said cover for feeding the nails in said slot forwardly, and a spring for moving said carriage forwardly.

4. In an animal skin nailer, a body provided with a plurality of parallel slots providing a. nail magazine of separate sections, and a. common means for selectively feeding the nails in any one of said slots forwardly, said means including a movable element for each slot and separately positionable into operating position with respect thereto to advance the nails therein.

5. In an animal skin nailer, a body provided with a plurality of parallel slots providing a nail magazine of separate sections, and means comprising a single carriage and a pivoted finger for each slot for selectively feeding the nails in one of said slots forwardly.

6. In an animal skin nailer, a body provided with a plurality of parallel slots providing a nail magazine of separate sections, means comprising a common carriage and a pivoted finger thereon for each slot for selectively feeding the nails in one of said slots forwardly, and means for preventing the forward movement of the nails in the other sections of said magazine.

7. In an animal skin nailer, a body, a magazine adapted to receive a plurality of headless nails, a movably mounted plunger having a recess for receiving a headless nail and supporting the same by means of the side walls of the recess extending along a portion of its length, and means tending to present and align the next nail in the i path-of the plunger and causing it to contact with the plunger during its movement in causing the nail in said recess to be inserted in the work, whereby said next nail will move into position into said recess upon the return of the plunger to its starting position.

8. In anr animal skin nailer, a body member provided with a plurality of parallel slots providing a nail magazine of separate sections, means comprising a common carriage and a pivoted finger thereon for each slot for selectively feeding the nails in one of said slots forwardly, and means for preventing forward feeding movement of the carriage at such times as when strips of the nails are being loaded into the slots in the magazine.

9. In an animal skin nailer, a body member provided with a plurality of parallel. slots providing a nail lmagazine of separate sections, means comprising a common carriage and a pivoted finger thereon for each slot for selectively'ieeding the nails in one of said slots forwardly.' and means on th'e carriage and clampingly engageabie with the sides of said body member for preventing forward feeding movement of the carriage at such times as when strips of the nails are being loaded into the slots in the magazine.

10. In an animal skin nailer, a body, a head carried at the front; end of said body, -a movably mounted plunger in said head havinga recess for receiving and embracing a straight shank headless nail for forcing the same from the device, means tending to present the next nail to the plunger and causing it to contact with the plunger during its movement in causing the preceding nail to be inserted in the Work, whereby said next nail will move into position in said recess upon the return of the plunger to its starting position, and relatively movablestop means having continuous intertting engagement as the plunger moves to limit movement of the plunger during its driving stroke so that the portion contacting the end of the nail Will be substantially spaced from the Work into which the nail is inserted, said stop means comprising an element carried by said head extending through a longitudinal slot in said plunger to engage the top end of the slot when the plunger is moved downwardly a sucient distance.

REMI S. ROY. 

